Tuesday, February 27, 2007

This week's edition of Works-For-Me-Wednesday is a recipe that I recently found, and just have to share. It is so easy. It's called Tangy Chicken Breasts. I even made a double batch and just used all the chicken I had (which was about 8 or 9 pieces). I like to marinate it in plastic zip-top bags overnight and into the evening just until dinner time. I also spray the broiler pan with cooking spray, and that helps with clean-up. Happy Cooking! Don't forget to visint Rocks In My Dryer for more great Works-For-Me-Wednesday tips!

Place chicken in a single layer in a bowl or pan. Mix together Worcestershire sauce, oil, lemon juice, and garlic; pour over chicken. Cover. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours.Take chicken out of marinade, and place on broiler pan or grill. Broil until done, approximately 7 minutes on each side.

I love contests, and any chance to get free stuff, especially educational things for the kids. So hop on over to Five Minutes For Mom and check out the contest. You can also check out their prize this week, Rhyme-N-Tyme.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Last night my mother-in-law and I had an interesting conversation. It went something like this.

MIL: Boy, swimming was great, but I'm hungry now. I have this great little gourmet frozen pizza, but if I make it, I'll probably just undo the good I just did by swimming. ME: So, don't eat the whole pizza.MIL: Well, I'm not going to make a whole pizza and just eat one piece. ME: So, just cook half the pizza.MIL: (Thinking....gives me a funny look...thinking some more.....) Wow, I never thought of that. ME: Sure, just break the pizza in half and cook it in the oven or even the toaster oven. Then you don't have to cook and eat the whole thing.MIL: (Goes on to praise my amazing intelligence, yadda yadda yadda)....

The moral of the story, if you're only planning on eating half a frozen pizza, just cook half a frozen pizza. My favorite way to do this is to take a big butcher knife and just chop the thing in half. If you cook it in the toaster oven, you don't even need to cook it as long. No, it's not brilliant reasoning, it's just the frugal mind of a girl that lived alone for a while before marriage and didn't like reheated pizza. You could probably even cook 1/4 of the pizza if you wanted, but if any of you have kids, you know the vultures will start circling at the prospect of food. :)

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Lent is a time of preparation. Preparing ourselves for the Holy Week before Easter and the Resurrection of Our Lord. Many people think that this means it's time to "give something up" to honor God.

While fasting is good and holy, it needs to be done in the right spirit. Why are we giving up a certain item or activity? Is this something that is truly blocking our soul from God's grace? Is it a righteous thing to give up? Will it help me to serve God more fully if I give it up?

One thing to remember though, is that Sundays are Feast Days, no matter what season it is. We do not fast on feast days, because they are for celebrating, while fasting is like a period of mourning. We are dying to ourselves so that we can be raised up in Christ's love and forgiveness. This season, while we may focus on our fasting, really isn't about us in that sense. We are dying to what we were, opening our hearts for the blessing that God has in store for us.

My goal this Lenten season, is to give up my reactionary and sometimes even disrespectful attitude towards my husband, and I ask that you will all pray for me in this. I have been trying for so long to curb this attitude, but perhaps now is the season for real change. Only by God's grace will this task be accomplished, and I hope that He will be gentle with me :) However, sometimes it takes more than gentleness for a person to change, so I have to be prepared for that to.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

My husband and I chose, before we were married, to homeschool our then future children. It was a decision that did not come lightly, but we made it with the available facts that we had at the time. We knew that we could give our children a safer and probably better education than any of the schools in the city we lived in at the time.

There has been quite a bit of backlash towards us for our decision. People for some reason like to question my husband's mother about my ability to teach my own children. One woman even went so far as to ask if I was "smart" enough. (She also happened to be the wife of a school principle, no bias there).

I have finally decided to start making a running list of the reasons that we have chosen and still choose to homeschool. If you have any reasons that you have chosen to homeschool, just leave a comment. It may end up in a post!

So here is reason number one:

1. Our children are less likely to be sexually assaulted.

Here is the article that refreshed my memory. While it may not have been the first one we thought of, it is certainly one of the most important. I will periodically add more reasons as time goes on. This will probably end up being a very long list!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

I tend to have a lot of crochet projects going at the same time. Right now I have four. I like to do a little on each one, so I don't get bored with the pattern right away.

What I like to do is to put each project into a 1-gallon zip-top bag. I keep the hook in there (if it's not being used for one of the other projects), and I keep the pattern in there. That way I always know what I'm working on. I've done this with small sewing projects as well. I've even re-used gift bags with the handles so that I can carry it around easier. This works great for doctor's office visits.

More recently I purchased one of those Sterilite Showoff cases, and that's been nice. It locks and it has a handle. I have three projects in one case right now.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Light blogging lately. My son is having minor surgery tomorrow, so it will continue to be light blogging for a bit. I won't be able to leave him alone for a bit because he's too young to understand "stay still". I'll try to get a WFMW out tomorrow, but we'll see.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Some of you may remember the gang rape that occurred involving an 11-year-old girl and about 20 men and boys last September. Two of those men were recently charged. One sentenced to 10 years in jail and 11 years on probation, and the other to 6 years in jail and 8 years on probation. Both will have sex offender tagged to them for much of the rest of their lives.

Recently, Dr. Kent Hovind was sentenced for not paying taxes. He was also sentenced to 10 years in jail. His question still remains, what law requires him to pay taxes? No one seems able to answer that question.

Two different cases, two similar sentences. Who is considered the worse or more dangerous of the two? Kent Hovind. Tell me, does this seem appropriate? Is not paying taxes more destructive and dangerous to the human race than raping a little girl along with 20 other males? How many of those men might repeat this offense down the line?

Monday, February 5, 2007

Texas has recently passed a law requiring school-aged girls to get a vaccine against cervical cancer. We have the choice to abort our children, but we can't choose whether we want a vaccine? Something doesn't add up here.

AUSTIN, Texas - Some conservatives and parents’ rights groups worry that requiring girls to get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer would condone premarital sex and interfere with the way they raise their children.

By using an executive order that bypassed the Legislature, Republican Gov. Rick Perry — himself a conservative — on Friday avoided such opposition, making Texas the first state to mandate that schoolgirls get vaccinated against the virus.

Beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade will have to receive Gardasil, Merck & Co.’s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

Perry also directed state health authorities to make the vaccine available free to girls 9 to 18 who are uninsured or whose insurance does not cover vaccines. In addition, he ordered that Medicaid offer Gardasil to women ages 19 to 21.

Perry, a conservative Christian who opposes abortion and stem-cell research using embryonic cells, counts on the religious right for his political base. But he has said the cervical cancer vaccine is no different from the one that protects children against polio.

“The HPV vaccine provides us with an incredible opportunity to effectively target and prevent cervical cancer,” he said.

Opponents say Perry should have let the Legislature decide whether to impose a mandate.

“He’s circumventing the will of the people,” said Dawn Richardson, president of Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education, a citizens group that fought for the right to opt out of other vaccine requirements. “There are bills filed. There’s no emergency except in the boardrooms of Merck, where this is failing to gain the support that they had expected.”

Texas allows parents to opt out of inoculations by filing an affidavit objecting to the vaccine on religious or philosophical reasons. Conservative groups say such provisions still interfere with parents’ rights to make medical decisions for their children.

The executive order is effective until Perry or a successor changes it, and the Legislature has no authority to repeal it, said Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody. Moody said the Texas Constitution permits the governor, as head of the executive branch, to order other members of the executive branch to adopt rules like this one.

Bankrolling state lawsThe federal government approved Gardasil in June, and a government advisory panel has recommended that all girls get the shots at 11 and 12, before they are likely to be sexually active.

Merck could generate billions in sales if Gardasil — at $360 for the three-shot regimen — were made mandatory across the country. Most insurance companies now cover the vaccine, which has been shown to have no serious side effects.

The New Jersey-based drug company is bankrolling efforts to pass state laws across the country mandating Gardasil for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country.

Perry has ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company’s three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry’s former chief of staff. His current chief of staff’s mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government.

The governor also received $6,000 from Merck’s political action committee during his re-election campaign.

A top official from Merck’s vaccine division sits on Women in Government’s business council, and many of the bills around the country have been introduced by members of Women in Government.

Merck spokeswoman Janet Skidmore would not say how much the company is spending on lobbyists or how much it has donated to Women in Government. Susan Crosby, the group’s president, also declined to specify how much the drug company gave.